A2 is a powerful operating system developed by the Native Systems Research Group, based on the A2 kernel. The A2 kernel provides a compact runtime environment for the Active Oberon language (pdf), which supports active objects (threads) directly, and enables the construction of efficient active object-based systems that directly run on the hardware.

Above the kernel layer, a flexible collection of modules provide generic abstractions for devices and services, e.g., file systems, user interfaces, networking, codecs and more.

A relatively large number of applications is available for the A2 system. For example:

• Media Player (DivX, MP3)
• Programming Editor
• Web Server
• TV
• Oberon for A2

A2  is currently implemented for Intel SMP-compatible multi-processor systems (hyperthreading is supported) and Intel-compatible single-processor systems as well as for the Strong-ARM/XScale processor. A2 can also run in several virtual machines such as Qemu, VMWare and Virtual PC 4.0 (Macintosh version only).

Of course this page is hosted on a server running A2.

If you are interested in using A2, please have a look at the Oberon Community Platform.